Running Time: 30 mins / Production Year: 2005 / Theatrical Release: Taiwan, 19 Sep 2008 / Screen: 1
On the night of March 18th, 2000, the presidential election, as usual, three coastguards are on patrol by the seaside of Yi-Lan.
Private First Class, just out of lock-up, is equipped with a walkie-talkie. The Private (second in command) has a military 65-K2 rifle and the Private recruit (rookie) has two clips of ammunition.
From the walkie-talkie comes the news that the captain is heading back to base and is done with that nights post checks. Seeing that it’s still a long, boring night ahead, The Private starts looking for excuses hazing the rookie. At first, Private First Class doesn’t seem to mind too much.
Until the trick, “The moon chase” is pulled on the rookie does Private First Class start feeling sympathy towards the rookie. As the hazing turns more ugly, Private First Class urges The Private to stop his immoral actions. The two argues and Private First Class slowly comes to the realization that he too, was once picking on rookies; and he is actually responsible for this unstoppable cycle of pain.
When did he become someone he loathes? What can he now do to change it? As the long night comes close to an end, the mysterious seaside woman nicknamed “28″ shows up. The Private forces the rookie to have sex with “28″ as a rite of passage all soldiers on this coast have gone through. Private First Class steps forward to stop this horrendous act, yet his choice of action may be just as ridiculous and absurd…
CREW
Executive Producer: YEH JUFENG
Scriptwriter: TOM SHU-YU LIN
International Coordinator: HUANG JUO-HSUAN
Cinematographer: JAKE POLLOCK
Gaffer: YANG CHANG-PING
Production Designer: LEE TIEN-CHUE
Costume Designer: LEE REN-CHUE
Editor: CHEN HSIAO-DONG
Sound: LIN SHO-RONG, DENNIS Y. F. TSAO
Music: SINGING CHEN
CAST
CHENG YOU-CHIEH as Private First Class
HUANG CHIEN-WEI as Private
CHANG CHIEH as Private Recruit (Rookie)
JUAN UEN-PING as 28
DIRECTOR
TOM SHU-YU LIN
Born in 1976, earned his BFA in film from Shih-Hsin University and his MFA in film from California Institute of the Arts.
Tom is one of the few promising new directors emerging from Taiwan. Since he lived in the Unites States when he was a child, he grew up learning both Chinese and English, giving him the ability to communicate fluently in both languages. His films all carry a distinctive mix of cultural backgrounds.
His works are often filled with dramatic tension, yet within the story, explores the most basic problems of humanity, creating believable characters that touch the heart.
In Taiwan, every healthy young man has the duty of performing mandatory military service; I was no exception. Fresh out of college, I was sent to be a coastguard for 2 years. “THE PAIN OF OTHERS ” is partly about my experience as a coastguard yet also about how I see the Taiwan’s military system.
Working with a very limited budget, I knew that I had to keep the story simple. I chose three soldiers from three different rankings to represent the whole process of the military service. The film focuses on the hazing aspect of the military but the theme of the film is to show that we are all victims under the same flawed system.
*Best Short Film Nominee at the Golden Horse Awards, 2005.
*Grand Prize at the South Taiwan Film & Video Festival, 2005.
*Best Fiction Award & Best Screenplay at the Golden Harvest Awards, 2006.
*Best Narrative Film at the Taipei Film Festival, 2006.
*Selected for Hong Kong InDPanda Int’l Short Film Festival, 2006.
*Special screening at the Asian Marine Film Festival in Makuhari, 2006.
*Selected for Kaohsiung Film Festival, 2006.
*Best Short Film Nominee at the Asian Pacific Film Festival, 2006.
*Selected for Singapore Int’l Film Festival, 2006.